Beam Me up blog is the sister/support site For the Beam Me Up podcast. It contains links, discussion and material that might be or have been discussed on the show. Also links to new show listings and material. Be sure to check out the live stream every Saturday at 4pm eastern at http://www.wrfr.org/links.html and select stream

Sunday, December 28, 2014

Phys.org reports that in a new paper accepted by the journal Astroparticle Physics, written by Robert Ehrlich, a recently retired physicist from George Mason University, claims that the neutrino is very likely a tachyon or faster-than-light particle.

Saturday, December 20, 2014

Kite takes place in a post-financial collapse corrupt
society, follows Sawa who tries to track down her parents killer with
help from his ex police partner.

Those in the know recognize the main theme as the Kite of anime series and the anime movie. (though the anime movie Liberator is probably the least "kite like" than any of the others)

As a general reference all three versions share talking points, but it is the live action that diverges the most. Yes we have a female protagonist that has a sketchy memory at best. She is a contract killer seemingly under control of a father figure, benevolent or not. The earrings are the reinforcement item and so on.

What it comes down to is a comparison between the anime series and live action movie. Having seen the series first I am inclined to consider it to be the benchmark. Others may consider the movie so. The truth is though that most found the movie to be very confusing. Fast paced yes but many found it difficult to follow.

Having watched the series first, I was able to follow the film for the most part. That however did not make it a better film.

The film IS confusing and IS difficult to follow under the best of conditions.

Editing left what I would consider important plot lines on the floor.

So it is very very difficult to score this outing in the "Kite" series any higher than a 7. Lots of action, which means lots of killing.......But continuity has be thrown out the window.

Thursday, December 18, 2014

NASA's rover Curiosity was sent to Mars to explore Gale's crater, looking for the most part for the chemical markers that could indicate that in Mars' distant past, the Martian environment could have supported life.

Thursday, December 11, 2014

So you're an antisocial, nonathletic,
Japanese wallflower with really no ambition besides writing
inconsequential sightings in your cell phone diary. No? Well, if
you were, you would likely be Yukiteru Amano, the main protagonist in
the anime Future Diary/ Mirai Nikki, one of most intense and
disturbing sci-fi series in the last couple years.

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Comets did not bring water to Earth. This startling piece of news comes from scientists studying data coming back from the ESU's Rosetta. The data, they feel, points towards asteroids as the watery culprits. Still, other scientists want more data before ruling out comets completely.

Though the lander Philae's batteries have long since been depleted after it landed on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, November 12 2014, the "mother ship" Rosetta has continued to study the comet up close.

This historically close look at a comet may well answer the questions of whether it was possible that these primitive bodies brought water to Earth billions of years ago. Data gathered by Rosetta's two mass spectrometers suggests this may not be the case.

The authors conclude it is more likely that the water came from asteroids, but other scientists say more data is needed before comets can be ruled out.

Since August, the Rosetta probe has been orbiting Comet 67P and on November 12 Philae, touched down on the comet's surface.

This historically close look at a comet may well answer the questions of whether it was possible that these primitive bodies brought water to Earth billions of years ago. Data gathered by Rosetta's two mass spectrometers suggests this may not be the case.

Earth's water is very distinctive. The majority on Earth is made up of two hydrogen and one oxygen atoms. Infrequently one of the hydrogen atoms will be replaced with a deuterium atom - better known as "heavy water". Deutertium however is exceedingly rare. For every 10,000 water molecules, three deuterium atoms can be found, a very distinctive ratio of light to heavy water, not easily changed and persists for a very long time.

When the team compared the water on Earth to that of Comet 67p, it was discovered that there was far more heavy water on Comet 67P than on Earth, more than three time that found on Earth.

Tuesday, December 09, 2014

After my opening comments this week (ep:433) I play the closing theme
for the anime series "is this a zombie?" FYI this series is a keeper.
Even though it is a fan service/harem series, it will run you through
the gamete of emotions which is no mean feat.

Next is part 1 of Sound Effect by Margret Karmazin

From
the blog: I speak about a strange short film called Time Trap, start
to finish, you are never sure exactly what is going on.

The anime
short HAL is as different from Time Trap as you can get! A truly
poignant slice of life that will flip you on your head.

Kallimus once again joins the fray this week planting his feet firmly on the neck of Adult swim!

Next with tongue firmly planted in cheek, proof that the Earth is flat!

How about the world's largest largest solar power generation facility?

Saturday, December 06, 2014

Now here is a short science fiction film written and directed by Michael Shanks. For a short piece, it shows an amazing amount of comedy and pathos - both from the 'main character' and the scenes 'he' shows us.

My ambivalence towards the main character is quite literally not knowing quite who or what it really is. As you can see from the opening graphics, is that it is humanoid, a robot - maybe, an android - very likely. In any event, wonderfully broad spectrum and a wildly funny ending.

Thursday, December 04, 2014

Kurumi struggles with the loss of her boyfriend, Hal, and shuts herself off from the world. She remains a recluse until an android is made to look like Hal and sent to help her cope.

From this point the audience is treated to an even paced "slice of life" which slowly pulls you in to where you buy into the plot devices completely.

Hal maintains the premise through most of the movie. There are the odd moments however when Hal is it would appear, reintroduced to childhood friends who are completely nonpluses when Hal doesn't recall them at all. Now this would at first blush be expected, however it is the friends reaction that begins to be telling. Not all is as it seems. That mixed with an ofttimes melancholy and often tearful happiness.

The ending moments are hardly a given. I was privy to the concluding moments and still found myself asking why such and such a development happened.

The film at times is cute, other times heart breathtakingly sad and through it all is woven a thread of mystery.

I would give the movie a solid 8, I would take off some for what appears to be deliberate confusion

Monday, December 01, 2014

Yeah,
the Heart She Holler soap opera is back, and the third season premieres tomorrow
Dec. 2nd on adult swim at 12:30am.

Look
folks, if you know this show, you know what it is. If not, even I am not going
to try and explain this sickness. (And yeah, I’ll be right there for it to
return too.) I can’t explain it. It’s basically some kind of tucked away valley
of southern gothic lunacy.

Here’s
my best explanation. Combine extreme gothic lunacy, crossed with duck kingdom
and honey smeg for brains, and have it all done by Ed Woods (Plan nine from
Outer Space, amongst other horrors guy) while he was put on a hallucinogenic
trip into lah lah land.

So
yeah, it’s a twisted, deviant, perverted disgusting concept of a show, and I
love it. There is something wrong with me, seriously. This; Super Jail, and my
next review here. No doubt I need committed.

Buy
Lots Of Pickles

Or
pay the price for your insolence, I don’t care. But if this dog ever comes
around, I’m safe. For those that haven’t gotten this yet, it’s the latest
sickness from Adult Swim. The show is titled Mr. Pickles, and is about a cute
and loving, if just slightly deviant Border Collie. I watched the entire first
season before really saying anything. It’s a cool show, if they’d just stop
picking on that poor little puppy. Every week he has to defend himself from
horrible people that live in that area. Close to Heartshe Holler I’m guessing.
But that is what makes the show good. Watching Mr. Pickles defeat the enemy
every week.

Rebels

Star
Wars Rebels, the newest anime in that fiasco of a franchise is pretty easy for
me to review. Painful as it is, I will review it. Very short review, as that is
all it takes.

Watch
it. That’s it. Just watch it. This from my mouth, about Star Wars Rebels. It
caught the magic, and the fun, of the original, and it has some really cool
characters in it, which of course is what got me I guess. What can I really say
here folks. I was waiting to jump all over that too. I can’t. I actually like
it. Check it out folks, it’s worth a half hour a week easily. Still can’t
believe I’m saying that. I’ll say this though. They should have went with this
kid, and just forgot about that dippy Luke all together. Even at the end,
compared to this kid, Luke sucks.

OTHER
STUFF

Librarians
is premiering this Sunday, the 7th on TNT at 8:00pm. This of course
is from the movie series of the same name. Looks good to me, we’ll see.

And
now a few questions for all you little geniuses out here.

First,
why does my laptop shut off at random on it’s own after it is closed sometimes,
and when it does, it screams at me the first 2 or 3 times I try to restart it.
I’m guessing it’s about to die?

And
number 2, which also explains where I have been these past weeks. I need to
know if anyone out here has done any work with Aquaponics. What I am wondering is
what your best experience was with which type of flow system on it.

Yeah
Paul, got lucky, got materials, and bedroom is finished 7’ up, and the kitchen
is joining it now, 7’ overhead. Underneath this is where my aquaponics is going
to go, so I figured I’d see if anyone out here has experience over time before
I decide on my final flow system. Still here Paul; just busy building and
sealing and preparing for the next step. And aquaponics is a science we should
all be experimenting with. Once it’s done, months from now I am sure, I’ll film
it all and get it up here Paul. The entire system after it is up and running.
Maybe by March I’ll have my time again. House husbands should not be this
fecking busy.

Friday, November 28, 2014

The above photo, taken by the Martian rover Curiosity, appears to contain a thigh bone.

An interview with a man claiming to be a former Lockheed Martin scientist surfaced after the man's death. In it are details about Area 51 and interactions with aliens, including photos like the one above. The interview,incredibly, claims that aliens currently work for the US government.

Snopes.com has declared the video a hoax, pointing out that the alien figure shown looks an awful lot like a toy on sale at Walmart.

A UFO blog picked out what looks a little bit like a sideways sideways art on a rock from a photo captured by the Curiosity rover. The blog suggested that it looks an awful lot like some inscriptions on columns from ancient Egypt.

Want to send conspiracy theorists into orbit? Send an unmanned space plane into orbit for two years and keep its mission classified. Theories about what the X-37B did was looking for aliens, commandeering abandoned alien bases on other planets or flying around communicating with extraterrestrials.

Malaysia Airlines conspiracy theorists claimed that radar readings showed a UFO interfered with the missing airliner flight, while others suggested it might have been swallowed by a black hole

When Philae "landed" on a comet, an anonymous "ESA whistle-blower" sent around an email claiming the comet was actually anything but and that the Rosetta mission was all about making contact with extraterrestrials, perhaps by a rendezvous at this secret spacecraft/base posing as a big rock

Saturday, November 22, 2014

Researchers have identified new evidence supporting the growing belief that Neanderthals were a distinct species separate from modern humans (Homo sapiens), and not a subspecies of modern humans. Neanderthals' extinction was likely due to competition from modern humans.

Rosetta covers a Beatle's tune. Well almost. Andrew Huang took fragments of the audio from the Rosetta mission. His goal was to have the sounds from Rosetta back him up as he sings The Beatles' 'Across the Universe'. Apart from his singing, no other sounds were used in the song.

Thursday, November 20, 2014

From the NASA web page:NASA has opened team registration for the 2015 NASA Human Exploration
Rover Challenge. The event will be held April 16-18, 2015, at the
U.S. Space & Rocket Center, in Huntsville Al.

The challenge is open to high school, college and university students in
hands-on, experiential learning activities, while also testing potential
technologies needed for future deep space exploration.

Student teams participating in the Rover Challenge must design, engineer
and test a human-powered rover on a mock course designed to simulate
the harsh and demanding terrains future NASA explorers may find on
distant planets, moons and asteroids.

My opening comments to Beam Me Up episode 432 drift off into a review
of The Xmen Days of Future Past The first story for the afternoon is a
short strange tale by Deborah Walker called Sibyl. A deceptivly
different "time travel" tale.

From the blog: Meebles sends in an
article about a "working" hoverboard. ESA's spacecraft comet landing of
Rosetta's landing craft.

Next, could AIs becoming a problem for humanity.

Jupiter's great red spot is something much more complicated than once figured.

Our final tale is Kurt Vonnegut Jr's 2br02b a story about a perfect world that harbors one uncomfortable fact.

Saturday, November 15, 2014

Jupiter has one of the largest planetary atmospheres in the solar system, with three atmosphere layers made up of ammonia, ammonium hydrosulfide and water clouds at different altitudes. As chaotic and beautiful Jupiter's atmosphere is, the great red spot out-shines them all.

The Great Red Spot is a vortex the size of three Earths. Researchers have been theorising for hundreds of years as to the cause of the Great Red Spot's color. Up until recently it was thought that the color was some kind of red phosphorus or sulfur compound rising from beneath Jupiter's clouds.

Scientists at Nasa's JPL have been studying data gained from Nasa's Cassini spacecraft, which flew by Jupiter in December 2000 on its way to Saturn and its moons. They also conducted laboratory experiments by blasting ammonia and acetylene gases (chemicals known to exist in Jupiter's atmosphere) with ultraviolet light, in order to simulate how the sun affects these chemicals. The experiment produced a reddish material that matched a model of the Great Red Spot where the red-colored material had been confined to the uppermost reaches of the vortex.

"Our models suggest most of the Great Red Spot is actually pretty bland in color, beneath the upper cloud layer of reddish material," said Kevin Baines, a Cassini team scientist from JPL. "Under the reddish 'sunburn' the clouds are probably whitish or greyish."

Thursday, November 13, 2014

It is a fact that Artificial Intelligence scares the crap out of some people. The knowledge and
resources are in place that allow for the construction of more powerful AI systems. It doesn't stretch the imagination that such AI systems could reach the level of humans in intelligence and in doing so have the capability to construct AIs that could be far more intelligent than the original AI.

Present AIs are fairly cute and simplistic. However as the past has demonstrated, as the systems become more capable, more responsibilities will be shifted to them. The question on a lot of people's minds are how long before we can no longer control these computer intelligences?

Imagine how a medical robot, originally programmed to treat cancer, could conclude that the best way to obliterate cancer is to exterminate humans who are genetically prone to the disease.

People who support AI postulate that things like this would never happen - that programmers will build in safeguards. This, author Nick Bilton says in part, from programmers who can barely keep present day computers from crashing whenever you check just your e-mail

Elon Musk, recently said artificial intelligence is “potentially more dangerous than nukes”. Stephen Hawking, one of the smartest people on earth, wrote that successful AI “would be the biggest event in human history. Unfortunately, it might also be the last.

Rosetta was launched on 2 March 2004 and traveled over 4 billion miles through the Solar System before arriving at the comet on 6 August 2014.

The landing site, named Agilkia and is located on the head of the bizarre double-lobed object. Soon after Rosetta arrived, it began taking photos from apx, 20 miles to as far away as 60 miles looking for a possible landing site.

Over the next 2.5 days, the lander will conduct its primary science mission, assuming that its main battery remains in good health. An extended science phase using the rechargeable secondary battery may be possible, assuming Sun illumination conditions allow and dust settling on the solar panels does not prevent it. This extended phase could last until March 2015, after which conditions inside the lander are expected to be too hot for it to continue operating.

Sunday, November 09, 2014

I just wanted to share with you guys real quick that there are finally real hoverboards that work via magnets! Like they say in the video, it has limitations and can't go over water and things like that. Still this is amazing stuff! I'm amazed at this (obviously!) but tell us what you think in the comments.

Episode 431
I open with are review of the science fiction movie Snow Piercer I also note that Chris Hadfield's version of David Bowie's Space

Oddity is back on YouTube thanks to the man himself!

First story of the weekend is Episode 30 of the Dark Inspectre Jason Kahn.

From the BMU log:
You can win a ride into space for free! Most stars may not be in a home galaxy... The ISS almost had a close encounter with some space trash. How about an astronomy first? The first ever pictures of a proto, planetary system. And the universe may have started out of nothing?

Friday, November 07, 2014

I don't think we have to go over the big bang theory here do we? You know the Universe began from an infinitely small point and expanded in all directions all at once. We ok so far? So the question is what came before the infinitely small point of space/time?

Cosmologists at the Wuhan Institute have published a proof that the Big Bang could indeed have occurred spontaneously because of quantum fluctuations. "The new proof is based on a special set of solutions to a mathematical entity known as the Wheeler-DeWitt equation.

The words that make my heart go pitter patter are 'quantum fluctuations' which the Wikipedia explains as 'the temporary change in the amount of energy in a point in space'

We know that energy can not be destroyed, simply changed and matter is just another form of energy. So I would suspect that a temporary change in the amount of energy at any given point would result in a quantum particle. If this particle is stable or not is moot, as long and the process once started does not stall. Because at any given point an unstable quantum particle could evolve into a much more stable unit which given enough time and fluctuations could lead to a macro particle with a much higher energy potential plus the added attraction of being significantly more stable.

The neat thing is, I one heard this ripple, quantum energy flux first applied to the very end of the universe, when all matter has bled down to an even quantum state. At some point a quantum fluctuation would bring about a temporary energy point and damn if that don't sound like the whole universe starting up again.

Thursday, November 06, 2014

The ALMA array in Chile has accomplished what will prove to be one of many firsts. ALMA is the first telescope to take pictures of a proto-planet system that is actively in the process of making planets.

In a moment reminiscent of Hollywood's 'Gravity', the ISS instead avoided being struck by space

debris.

In late October, the ESA reported that the ISS lab was threatened with a collision by space junk. The usual procedure is to have a docked Progress supply ship push the multi-toned craft out of harms way, which in this instance was a hand sized piece of metal from an earlier collision between a defunct Russian and an operational US satellite, traveling at 17000 mph.

The problem was however that there were none of the regular craft on station to pull duty until quick thinking controllers at the ESA ATV Control Center in Toulouse, France remembered that the ISS currently had the Automated Transfer Vehicle Georges Lemaître, which ferries supplies to the station from Earth. The unmanned ship, is controllable from Earth. Which meant that a team of engineers at the ATV control center were able to use the supply craft to move the ISS.

The Georges Lemaître, was instructed to fire its engine for 4 minutes which moved the ISS' orbit by one mile.

Scientists from the U.S., Japan & Korea have released a study that concludes that as many as half of all stars may not be affiliated with a galaxy but instead may have been pushed out of their parent galaxy by mergers and collisions.

Individually, these stars are way too faint to be detected, but collectively they create a background of fluctuating near-infrared light. This diffuse glow is as bright as all the known galaxies combined and may mean that galaxies do not have sharp edges but soft boundaries that spread out to connect to other galaxies.

Wednesday, November 05, 2014

Earlier this year Chris Hadfield (a Canadian astronaut) posted a wonderful rendition of David Bowie's Space Oddity to YouTube (while he was doing an extended mission aboard the ISS) — It was later removed because of a lack of permissions. Now, David Bowie has given the go ahead for it to be online once more. As a side note, YouTube shows the views as well over 23 million!

Pixy Fox is an anime website with extensive unique features that will help you connect and discover new anime

Pixyfox's press release says in part

Pixy Fox will focus on creating a way which will connect Anime and Manga fans and allow their interest in the Anime and Manga to be pushed to the next level.

I had a chance to tool around the site and I will have to admit that I was largely unimpressed. The idea is great but the implementation leaves something to be desired. There are damn few videos on the site and the ones I did find were streaming by another site. If this is all the site has to offer then it is of very limited use and if they plan on adding content, one has to wonder why they would roll out such a crippled site?

Monday, November 03, 2014

Yep, you read correctly! The folks behind the movie 'Interstellar' have teamed up with XCOR Aerospace for a contest that will give an extremely lucky person a free space trip.

How you may be asking? Well according to the Yahoo article:

People who purchase their "Interstellar" tickets through the online site Fandango through Dec. 1 have a chance to win a free suborbital spaceflight aboard XCOR Aerospace's Lynx Mark II rocket plane. Seats aboard the vehicle normally sell for $100,000.

Sunday, November 02, 2014

Yep, it is episode 430 of Beam Me Up on a cold and decidedly winterish weekend in Maine.

After
my opening comments I play one of the opening pieces of music for the
animated series RWBY called This will be the Day by Jeff Williams
featuring Casey Lee Williams.

I follow this music with part two of the series Squeak Squeak by Michael Juby.

From the BMU blog I mention the Virgin Galactic space plane failure. Jarad
sends me a couple of links to two extremely well made short films ABE
and the other is Blinky. These two are so well made as to be big screen
quality. Or how about the TSA agent who confiscated a toy ray-gun
belt buckle... John Anealio has a new Halloween themed album out.

The last story for the week is David Scholes Human Hunter - The British facility.

Thursday, October 30, 2014

Yes sir, you read that correctly - a TSA supervisor confiscated a raygun belt buckle belonging to one Sean Malone - Her reason being - terrorism! Wait, it gets better!

When Mr. Malone pressed the TSA agent for an explanation of the confiscation, the agent's response was a hypothetical one of waving said belt buckle in a threatening manner. This of course has to take place in front of a policeman in hopes he doesn't know the difference between a toy and as my mom would say his touchhole (use your imagination.....)

Monday, October 27, 2014

Well this is episode 429 of Beam Me Up
and being that it is the last program of this October, I am going for
our annual Halloween show.

The first item presented is a great
piece of music from none other than the vocal group Manhattan Transfer
doing Twilight Zone. Nope, not that one by Golden Earring but one more
closely attuned to the TV show of the same name.

Next a very
unusual and wonderful short tale from Deborah Walker that combines a
rural church in the English country side and quantum mechanics!

Colin
Davies has graciously let me play Happy Halloween again. This is a
crystalWizard production and between the two of them, they turn out a
great story.

Thursday, October 23, 2014

CNN reports that China, in the very near future, will launch a craft to the moon and then return to Earth, landing in Mongolia, a first for China's space agency.

Previous Luna missions included a rover called the Jade Rabbit, which was fraught with technical difficulties and was designated incapacitated.

China has also had good success with its manned missions to low Earth orbit, sending up several individuals and teams, since 2003. But it is the unmanned missions that will grab the headlines in the coming months.

Ultimately China is aiming at a Luna probe mission, dubbed Chang’e-4, to take place possibly in 2015. and the Chang'e-5 in 2017 that will put a rover on the surface to collect samples, then returning them to Earth.

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

I know, we have all seen the launch of Apollo 11 on its way towards history. But I am willing to bet that most (myself included) have never seen footage of the launch taken at extremely high speed from various points around the craft.

In this great piece of film we see the frames from camera E8 on pad 39b shooting at 500 frames a second for about 8 minutes of watching but is in truth only about 30 seconds of real-time!

The film shows ignition of the 5 f-1 engines and lift-off. The narration is wonderful in describing what it is we are seeing (quite frankly you could have told me it was the gates of hell opening and I would have had to consider it, just from the hellish amounts of flame and smoke ) .

I am stunned by just how much material is out there, but this short is an excellent jumping off point.

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Ok, blame it on the season. All levity aside, there has been some startling strides (really - no pun intended) being made in the field of brain tissue transplant.

Darek Fidyka was stabbed in the back four years ago, paralyzing him from the chest down.

Now we hear of a stunning success after experimental treatments that Fidyka has regained some feeling in his lower body and is learning to walk again. According to the Popular Science article, the treatment involved removing part of Fidyka's brain and then injecting those cells into the damaged area of his spinal cord.

The tissue removed were olfactory bulbs (this is the part of the brain that allow you to smell) growing cells from the bulb and eventually injecting them. Curiously the reason this brain tissue was used is because the nerves in the olfactory system are the only part of the human nervous system known to regrow after being damaged. (Fidyka reported no ill effects from the removal)

My opening comments for
episode 428 are pretty much all over the place but I did manage to
discuss some of the anime I have been following plus I jump down the
x-37b rabbit hole.

My first piece of music is the opening to the
Anime Series Wakfu, this series is without a doubt one of the oddest but
most fun fantasy quests out there, and yes I am including One Piece.
The characters are thoroughly endearing and the quest is something of a
secondary goal that I would thing it would be only the hardened few who
would pass on this fun series.

After the music, I spend a few
moments (because so much of my "tv" entertainment is now coming from
alternative sources of which cable is not even a strong minority.)
wondering what might be coming once cable loses its' strangle hold on
tv entertainment.

Next up is CrystalWizard's Wizard Bane Chapter 4 pt3

From the blog Boeing's X-37b who's whole fleet of 2, One of which just returned from a 22 month mission.

A new animated movie called Ambition looks to be a wildly entertaining film.

Cassini has treated us to a wonderful high rez photo of Hyperion.

Alexandra
Grenberg's "Echo" finishes off the afternoon. This enigmatic short
story will give you a chill and in the end well, it WAS one simple
act....

Saturday, October 18, 2014

The Air-force's ultra secret, space shuttle looking, X-37b has returned from space to Vandenberg Air-force Base after an astonishing 674 days or 22 months. That is virtually all the public knows about what the X-37b is conducting. That and the enigmatic "on orbit experiments"

"The mission is our longest to date and we're pleased with the incremental progress we've seen in our testing of the reusable space plane," the Air Force said in a statement.

The Cnet news article went on to report that "The Air Force also said it plans to start the next X-37B mission sometime in 2015, launching from Cape Canaveral in Florida."

The X-37b space plane is unique in that the Air Force owns the entire fleet of two craft.

Tomek Bagiński is not a name I am very familiar with but IS one that I am going to try and reverse that mistake.

His newest project is Ambition, which will see release in late October, looks to be a very interesting movie. Check out the trailer below.

Ambition: tells of a young apprentice struggling to master nanotechnology on an alien world and prove herself to her enigmatic master.

I really began to build interest after I saw Bagiński's short film The Cathedral, which got an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Short Film in 2002.

"The Cathedral" is based on a story by Jacek Dukaj under the same title. If the more (if I may)
Ambitious work is anywhere near the work of Cathedral then I suspect it is going to be a treat in its' own rite.

Friday, October 17, 2014

This ultra hi resolution photo comes from the Cassini spacecraft, working hard out at Saturn. This example is of Saturn's plane Hyperion which we can all agree that this is a wonderful photo but damn if this ultra crisp photo does not appear to be a space going wasp nest!

This stunning view of Hyperion was obtained during Cassini's close flyby on Sept. 26, 2005. The image were taken as Cassini passed about 310 miles above the moon's surface. Hyperion itself 165 miles in diameter. The moon has a decided red coloration which was toned down so other false colors could be added to the photo to highlight the highly unusual landscape and the massive impact event.

Friday, October 10, 2014

Well,
the easiest thing to say first off, is that they did not screw it into
oblivion. They actually did a pretty decent job all in all.

It
is far better already than the last attempt was all put together.

They
did alter the origin story somewhat, and you all know how I get at times about
that. Not this time. They did alter it from the original, but in a way that
works out fine.

Apparently
a lot of people think as I do, as it has a 9.4 for the pilot episode at moment
of write up here.

From
my view point, (and knowing nothing of the new 52, or whatever silliness Dc is
up to), it seems as though they basically combined old and new here. They are
using the Meta Human concept like with Static, but he is still more the old
style Flash and Barry Allen in his views on things.

As
to the effects. Well, I have to say not bad at all. Flash was always a
problematic character in this respect. The live action attempt done in that TV
fiasco back 1979 titled “Legends of the Superheroes” just had him vanishing
from sight basically. The last one he looked silly to put it nicely, and so did
their attempt at effects. This time it is more like the comic book in terms of
his speed being seen as his name, The Flash, (including the streak he leaves due to his speed), given to him in
this series by Green Arrow.

Well
worth the watch. Always was a fan of The Flash, and this time they seem to be
doing things right. Not original, but right.

Tuesday, October 07, 2014

After weeks of hearing coming soon, it premieres tonight on WB. Thanks for the time and date you DC idiots. I just watched a commercial, that said premiering soon. Yeah, no crap, it's tonight. Just wanted to get this up for a notice folks. Since DC, or WB, or maybe both want to act like smart ass idiots for some reason now.
Morons. I wonder if they will hide the Supergirl release date for that series also when they get it going. Freaking idiots.

Monday, October 06, 2014

In a recent NASA notice, the space agency reported that Orion was moved out of the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

NASA also noted that the Delta IV Heavy rocket, built by United Launch Alliance, made its move Tuesday night, to nearby Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. It was raised Wednesday from the horizontal position into its vertical launch configuration.

Orion now awaits the installation of the launch abort system.

Once the launch abort system is stacked on the crew and
service modules, the Orion
spacecraft will be considered complete. It then will wait inside the
launch abort system facility until mid-November, when the Delta IV Heavy
rocket is ready for integration with the spacecraft.

NASA has already tested, processed and
attached to each other the three Common Booster Cores of the Delta 4 Heavy, to form the first stage that will connect to
Orion’s service module.

Orion is capable of providing living quarters for up to 21 days. An additional habitat module will be made available for longer
missions. This will provide extra space for crew and equipment.

Sunday, October 05, 2014

Kerbal Space Program is a pretty awesome program that the user can creature a multitude of crafts from a pretty large selection of parts. The game is a really good sandbox (also the game creators are working on a challenging mode). Instead of the earth, we have Kerbin, home of the green Kerbals. As you might expect, the planets have different names, too.

One YouTube user by the name of Danny2462 loves to find glitches and has fun creating all sorts of things in the game. In the past he made a "planet buster" of sorts, and in this video he makes another glitch discovery about a device he makes that has properties of a "planet buster". He experiments with the glitchy device he makes and the end result is quite a riot to behold!

Saturday, October 04, 2014

hoooooooooo! Yep it's that time of the week again. This week -
episode 426. This week in my opening comments I discuss the time
paradox in A Yankee in King Arthur's Court. Plus the stunning success
of the Indian Mars mission.

My first story of the afternoon is by Jason Kahn and his Darke
Inspectre series. Because I dropped the ball in September, and for
continuity, I rerun episode 28 and continue straight on to episode 29.

Our next stop is the Beam Me Up blog, The first thing this week, what
do you get the nero-scientist that has everything? How about a hard
to believe demo of the state of CGI in the industry. SNC is calling
foul with NASA's choice of Space X and Boeing when one of the selected
companies was higher in its bid than SNC!

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Hey have you heard of this?
SNC (The Sierra Nevada Corporation) has filed a legal challenge to NASA's recent selection for the contract for the Commercial Crew Program prize.

NASA selected Boeing and its CT-100 and Space X with it's Dragon 2.

SNC, in spite of not challenging any contract selection in over 50 years of doing business with NASA but felt justified in this case, when NASA's own documents, "indicate there are serious questions and inconsistencies in the source selection process."

Sierra Nevada stated that the $6.8 billion in contracts announced for Boeing and SpaceX will cost taxpayers "up to $900 million more" than a choice that included Sierra Nevada.

Monday, September 29, 2014

Here is a short video brought to us by Courtney who gives us all things weird and wonderful.
What we have here is a short video taken onboard the ISS September 21st. The video seems to be
a glowing orb keeping pace with the International Space Station, which
is in decaying orbit about 261 miles above the Earth.

From what I have been reading this happens with some regularity. I am not going to queer the comments by throwing in my 2 cents worth at the beginning. Thoughts gentlemen....ladies?

This week on Beam Me Up - episode 425 - after my opening comments, I play the first of two music selections. This week, Monochrome Kiss by SID. Interesting selection from the world of Anime.

Next up is an article that you could say I used as a model for this week's program. The article in question is the top six places of the Darwin award followed straight away by a fast piece of music from BECCA called appropriately enough "I'm Alive!" the closing theme to the anime series "Black Butler".

On the blog front, Kallamus joins us for his review of the Marvel series Agents of Shield. His next review Brick Mansion doesn't miss a step and

Running out of time, I finish this weeks program with the final chapters to Isaac Asimov's "The Final Question"

And that is Beam Me Up episode 425 I hope you enjoy the program

Beam Me Up episode 425 can be downloaded from the podcast site www.beammeuppodcast.com or you can listen or download it from the FTP/Archive site HERE

Friday, September 26, 2014

They are seriously in a mess, and things are basically
as we all kind of figured they would

be, a complete and total disaster for
everyone involved.

Coulson
is the director now; the question is of what. There really isn’t a lot left to
be director of, but he is still running around recruiting those he can find. He’s
Coulson, what do you expect.

Basically,
once again we see Hydra being a pain right off the bat in the premiere, and
actually managing it from WW2 and the time of the Red Skull.

And
as everyone knows Shield just loves collecting artifacts and alien tech etc, so
you all see where this disaster is headed quickly. Basically, the first thing
they ever took into custody that would fit into said categories, was being sold
off by an ex-shield operative.

There
were also new allies in the picture, not all of which survived the first
episode, which kind of sucks considering who didn’t make it.

Absorbing
man was portrayed pretty well also. Let’s remember this is a TV show, and not a
full fledge movie here. They did a good job. But then, they have been doing a
good job anyway in my opinion, and why all the hatred for Skye I see around the
net I really don’t understand. Yeah she can be a bit naïve, but I am hoping she
has learned her lesson. Whatever it is she turns out to be, at least she hasn’t
been a secret hydra agent traitor, and would certainly be a valued member of
any such team I would put together.

Anyway,
one mission fails and another succeeds, pretty much at the same time. In other
words, it’s Marvel disaster everywhere you turn.

Stayed
kind of vague I know, but for anyone that maybe hasn’t caught it yet, I didn’t
want to give away anything major.

Basically,
they did it right, even with the screaming online about a certain escape. When
you don’t know a person’s powers, you can get surprised pretty easy. And even
if someone hasn’t yet been dropped from an airplane at 30,000 feet like they
should be; and even if we don’t have a clue where a missing member actually is
right now, I think they at least have a good season started with enough stories
to make it through easily and keep everyone interested. I give it an 8.5. They
lose a point for someone still being alive.

Brick
Mansions

Folks,
this is a fun movie. It has a 5.7 on imdb, and I personally think it was rated by
a bunch of smegging prigs.

It
stars Paul Walker, (No description needed for him I don’t believe), and David
Belle the founder of Parkour.

Basically,
they wall off a part of Detroit, and let the people inside fend for themselves.
Dystopian style somewhat, but set in 2018, so nothing big on post holocaust or
any of that.

Belle
plays an Ex Con, and Walker is a cop. Yeah I know, everything in here has
basically been done before, and sometimes on numerous occasions.

I’ll
make it simple. Forget the overall plot, and just watch this thing for fun, as
it is meant to be watched. Here’s the link to the IMDB page. We just watched
this on Amazon, and it was well worth the $2.99 or whatever it was.